The Soil And Health Albert Howard.pdf

Find here what probably is Albrecht's single most important statement connecting soil fertility with animal and human health, a chapter from Nutrition and Physical Degeneration Albrecht wrote, articles he wrote for Lets Live magazine, etc.

A classic in naturalist observation. A grasp of the common earthworm's importance is essential to a full understanding of soil fertility and plant health. Thanks to David Price for doing such an accurate scan of this book. Contains an interesting introduction by Sir Albert Howard, taken from a Faber & Faber edition, published about 1945. PUBLIC DOMAIN

Hopkins makes the point that chemical fertilizers are effective and positive to the degree that humus remains in the soil; that the real problem with chemicals has been with some who suggest that chemicals can replace farmyard manure. Hopkins takes on the Howardites point by point and demolishes many of their positions. The book's arguments are cogent and largely correct, although Hopkins \"scientific\" biases distort his objectivity in areas relating to human health. This book should by carefully read by anyone that considers themselves \"organic.\" Attached to the end of this copy are two articles from Rodale's Organic Gardening Magazine that highlight the intense antagonisms existing about this controversy at the time. Downloads as a PDF of 1.0 mb. OUT OF PRINT. A frequent correspondent of this library, Justin Naylor, has written a short and worthy article that appeared in Acres, USA about the organic/chemical controversy, using Donald Hopkin's book as a springboard. To read this piece, click here.

Starting about the year 1920 new data made it increasingly clear that soil fertility, the nutritional qualities of food and the consequent health of animals and humans were tightly inter-linked. The people at the leading edge of these discoveries wrote the books found in the Soil and Health Library. Jenks' book organises and popularises these discoveries and introduces these discoverers, put them into perspective and supplies interesting titbits of gossip and side-lights on their lives and work. The Stuff Man's Made Of will be especially useful to someone newly interested in this area of study. Thanks to Dr. John Fielder who practices near Cairns, Queensland, for the lend of this book. Downloads as a PDF of about 675 kb. OUT OF PRINT

The classic study of the relationships between tree roots and fungi. Rayner's work formed the basis of the organicist contention that supporting a complete and healthy population of soil microlife is essential to plant health. Thanks to Keith Addison, Creator of Journey to Forever, for doing a fine, accurate scan/OCR job on this classic book. Other interesting ag-related documents can be found on Keith's online library. Downloads as a PDF of 1.47 mb. OUT OF PRINT

This brief article considers climatic and land-use factors in determining organic matter levels in soil and the consequent health of the ecosystems supported on those soils. The research underlying this article is still in progress, developing as Richard Strong can manage to afford to visit other areas. Contributed to this library by the author. PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Sykes ran his prosperous and successful farm on Albert Howard's composting principles; the health and quality of his livestock was extraordinary. Readers should keep in mind that Sykes made a typical enthusiasts mistake in making prescriptions for all farmers. His farm was blessed with a fertile subsoil underlain with chalk. His practices might not works so well on properties without that endowment. Also contains much information about mechanized production of compost on the farm. Downloads as a PDF of 1.84 mb. Total time needed to process this book: 08:05. OUT OF PRINT.

Understanding how soil imbalances produce this livestock disease illuminates aspects of human health and nutritional requirements as well. A mind-expanding study, as are all of Voisin's contributions. OUT OF PRINT.

Howard observed and came to support traditional Indian farming practices over conventional agricultural science. Though he journeyed to India to teach Western agricultural techniques he found that the Indians could in fact teach him more. One important aspect he took notice of was the connection between healthy soil and the villages' healthy populations, livestock and crop. Patrick Holden, Director of the UK Soil Association quoted Howard as saying \"the health of soil, plant, animal and man is one and indivisible.\" He was president of the 13th session of the Indian Science Congress in 1926.

The earth's green carpet is the sole source of the food consumed by livestock and mankind. It also furnishes many of the raw materials needed by our factories. The consequence of abusing one of our greatest possessions is disease. This is the punishment meted out by Mother Earth for adopting methods of agriculture which are not in accordance with Nature's law of return. We can begin to reverse this adverse verdict and transform disease into health by the proper use of the green carpet -- by the faithful return to the soil of all available vegetable, animal, and human wastes.The purpose of this book is threefold: to emphasize the importance of solar energy and the vegetable kingdom in human affairs; to record my own observations and reflections, which have accumulated during some forty-five years, on the occurrence and prevention of disease; to establish the thesis that most of this disease can be traced to an impoverished soil, which then leads to imperfectly synthesized protein in the green leaf and finally to the breakdown of those protective arrangements which Nature has designed for us.During the course of the campaign for the reform of agriculture, now in active progress all over the world, I have not hesitated to question the soundness of present-day agricultural teaching and research -- due to failure to realize that the problems of the farm and garden are biological rather than chemical. It follows, therefore, that the foundations on which the artificial manure and poison spray industries are based are also unsound. As a result of this onslaught, what has been described as the war in the soil has broken out in many countries and continues to spread. The first of the great battles now being fought began in South Africa some ten years ago and has ended in a clear-cut victory for organic farming. In New Zealand the struggle closely follows the course of the South African conflict. The contest in Great Britain and the United States of America has only now emerged from the initial phase of reconnaissance, in the course of which the manifold weaknesses of the fortress to be stormed have been discovered and laid bare.I am indebted to some hundreds of correspondents all over the world for sending me reports of the observations, experiments, and results which have followed the faithful adoption of Nature's great law of return. Some of this information is embodied and acknowledged in the pages of this book. A great deal still remains to be summarized and reduced to order -- a labour which I hope soon to begin. When it is completed, a vast mass of material will be available which will confirm and extend what is to be found in these pages. Meanwhile a portion of this evidence is being recorded by Dr. Lionel J. Picton, O.B.E., in the News-Letter on Compost issued three times a year by the County Palatine of Chester Local Medical and Panel Committees at Holmes Chapel, Cheshire. By this means the story begun in their Medical Testament of 1939 is being continued and the pioneers of organic farming and gardening are kept in touch with events.The fourth chapter on \"The Maintenance of Soil Fertility in Great Britain\" is very largely based on the labours of a friend and former colleague, the late Mr. George Clarke, C.I.E., who, a few days before his untimely death in May 1944, sent me the results of his study of the various authorities on the Saxon Conquest, the evolution of the manor, the changes it underwent as the result of the Domesday Book, and the enthronement of the Feudal System till the decay of the open-field system and its replacement by enclosure.The spectacular progress in organic farming and gardening which has taken place in South Africa and Rhodesia during the last few years owes much to the work of Captain Moubray, Mr. J. P. J. van Vuren, and Mr. G. C. Dymond, who have very generously placed their results at my disposal. Captain Moubray and Mr. van Vuren have contributed two valuable appendices, while Mr. Dymond's pioneering work on virus disease in the cane and on composting at the Springfield Sugar Estate in Natal has been embodied in the text. For the details relating to the breakdown of the cacao industry in Trinidad and on the Gold Coast and for a number of other suggestions on African and West Indian agriculture I am indebted to Dr. H. Martin Leake, formerly Principal of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad.I have been kept in constant touch with the progress of organic farming and gardening in the United States of America by Mr. J. I. Rodale of Emmaus, Pa., the editor of Organic Gardening, who has started a movement in the New World which promises soon to become an avalanche. Mr. Rodale was the prime mover in bringing out the first American edition of An Agricultural Testament and is responsible for the simultaneous publication of this present book in the United States and of a special American issue of Lady Eve Balfour's stimulating work -- The Living Soil.In India I have made full use of the experience of Colonel Sir Edward Hearle Cole, C.B., C.M.G., on the Coleyana Estate in the Punjab, and of Mr. E. F. Watson's work on the composting of water hyacinth at Barrackpore. Messrs. Walter Duncan & Company have generously permitted Mr. J. C. Watson to contribute an appendix on the remarkable results he has obtained on the Gandrapara Tea Estate in North Bengal. In this fine property India and the